Right, that's it from me

Thanks for all your tweets and emails. Be sure to stick around on site for all the reports and reaction. Cheerio!

9.44pm BST

Well, the Barcelona pressure was suffocating at the end there but Atleti stood firm. I think this is what you'd call "nicely poised for the second leg.

9.38pm BST

Peep! Peep! PEEEEEEEEP! For the fourth time this season, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid can't be separated.

9.37pm BST

90+2 min: … and another clearance. The defending has been desperate at times, but you have to admire the visitors' resilience.

9.36pm BST

90+1 min: Sosa loses the ball, then a desperate challenge sends Neymar to the turf once more. Another booking, another dangerous free-kick …

9.35pm BST

90 min: Messi finds Sanchez with a beauty of a through-ball but the Chilean inexplicably delays his shot and the yellow shirts get back to smother the chance. Three minutes added on. Three minutes for Atletico Madrid to survive. And then another 90.

9.33pm BST

89 min: Neymar's turn to hit the deck in spectacular fashion. Barcelona have a free-kick like a penalty corner in hockey … but there's a foul in the box and Atleti can clear.

9.32pm BST

87 min: Alexis flops over. Nothing doing. But again Barça get the ball back in the blink of an eye.

9.30pm BST

85 min: Superb save from Courtois! Barcelona win their umpteenth free-kick within 30 yards of goal. Messi clips this one, looking to curl it inside the near post, but the keeper is across well to claw the ball away.

9.29pm BST

84 min: Godin gets a toe to the ball as Sanchez looks to turn in the box. In the Atléti camp on the edge of the box someone has found a guitar and is threatening to play Kumbaya.

9.27pm BST

83 min: Iniesta shows his defensive worth with a timely tackle as Atletico break through Sosa and Diego.

9.26pm BST

82 min: … and claimed by Courtois. Atletico get room for a deep breath.

9.25pm BST

81 min: … flicked away for a corner …

9.25pm BST

80 min: Neymar gets tripped twice as he looks to traverse the pitch. He gets a free-kick from the second. More danger …

9.24pm BST

78 min: Neymar, who hasn't carried the ball a great deal this evening, skitters down the left to spark another Barça attack. An Atleti head rises to nod away Sanchez's cross, but the ball isn't clear for long. This is claustrophobic as a really good horror film. And Atleti are getting all the scares at the moment. (See what I did there?)

75 min: More pinball football on the edge of the Atlético box, but this there's no way through.

9.18pm BST

73 min: Barcelona have gone up another gear. Iniesta, at the centre of everything, forces Courtois into a fingertip save with a rasping drive.

9.17pm BST

GOAL! Barcelona 1-1 Atletico Madrid (Neymar 71)

Iniesta produces one of those passes – you know the ones, unerring, inch-perfect, subtle but with the destructive power of a well-aimed half-brick – to put Neymar through on goal. With four, maybe five or six, defenders taken out of the game by Iniesta's genius, the Brazilian sweeps the home side level.

Updated at 9.28pm BST

9.15pm BST

71 min: Villa off, Sosa on.

9.15pm BST

70 min: Atlético Madrid haven't just set up camp on the edge of their own area now. They've pitched tents, cracked open the cool box, made themselves a fire and started cooking sausages.

9.13pm BST

69 min: … flicked on at the near post and out for a Barcelona corner.

9.13pm BST

68 min: Neymar wins his team a free-kick on the left edge of the box. Gabi looks disgusted, but it did look a foul. Dangerous this …

65 min: Replays show that was a pretty risible dive from Iniesta a few minutes ago. Could well have been a second yellow. But wasn't.

9.10pm BST

64 min: Alves spanks in a shot across goal as Barça pour forward again. Messi attempts to chest the ball goalwards but even he can't manage that.

9.09pm BST

63 min: Iniesta tumbles in the box. Brych waves away the appeals.Then seconds later the ball breaks out to Busquets who catches a volley as sweet and clean as a Domestos-coated M&M. Courtois does well to sprawl to his left to save.

9.07pm BST

62 min: We've just seen a brilliant replay of Diego's strike from behind the Barcelona goal. That took some technique.

GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 Atlético Madrid (Diego 56)

Camp Nou silenced! What a strike! After that Iniesta booking, a quick free-kick is zipped in to Diego, who turns and sends a swerving exocet of a right-foot shot into the near top corner of Pinto's net from the right corner of the box. Quite sensational.

9.00pm BST

55 min: Brych might need a new pencil – Iniesta becomes the fifth name in the book after ending a series of thumping tackles with a foul.

8.58pm BST

53 min: Iniesta scoops forward with that effortless glide of his, but Neymar's layoff at the back post, once the ball reaches him, is terribly sloppy and an Atlético boot is able to intercept.

8.56pm BST

51 min: The fourth Atlético player goes into Brych's Big Book Of Very Bad Men – this time it's Juanfran for tugging on Iniesta's arm as if attempting to drag a stubborn mule down the beach.

Updated at 8.56pm BST

8.55pm BST

50 min: The set-piece is scrambled clear with little bother.

8.55pm BST

49 min: Diego pinches the ball from Neymar on halfway, but again Atleti's attempt to break is a little harum scarum. Diego rescues the situation by winning a soft free-kick from Alba.

8.53pm BST

48 min: Fabregas slips, but Atleti again can't hold on to the ball. Barça win it back, but Neymar thwacks the ball over the bar. The second-half pattern seems to have been set.

8.51pm BST

46 min: Fabregas lofts the ball into the box … nodded clear. Atlético have all 10 outfield players back within 10 yards of their own box.

8.49pm BST

Peep! Off we go again.

8.39pm BST

Every day is a school day

@John_Ashdown the best thing about 'coccyx' is that its plural is 'coccyges'.

45+1 min: Again the ball seems to take on a mind of its own on the edge of the Barça box. Villa eventually manages to bring the thing under control, but then spanks his shot against the buttocks of Turan.

Updated at 8.32pm BST

8.30pm BST

45 min: Neymar skips past a challenge and fizzes a rising shot well over the bar.

8.29pm BST

44 min: Turan picks up a booking for ploughing into Messi like a runaway tractor.

8.28pm BST

43 min: Atléti are briefly, incongruously, all over Barcelona, but the ball just won't drop on the edge of the box.

8.27pm BST

41 min: Courtois is forced off his feet for just about the first time. With Atléti camped in their box, Alves finds a little space down the right and chips a cross in. Messi, from the penalty spot, guides his header goalwards but the Belgium international drops on it comfortably.

8.25pm BST

40 min: I can't remember where we are with this: is 0-0 a good result for the away side in Europe these days? What did the last memo say?

8.24pm BST

38 min: … that wasn't very Barça like. The free-kick is lofted awkwardly across the edge of the area to Alba, who can only clumsily shin the ball yards wide. One from the training ground. And should've stayed there.

8.22pm BST

37 min: Another free-kick, again in dangerous territory. Gabi goes into the book after hacking down Neymar at the corner of the box.

34 min: Atletico need to keep hold of the ball much better. They are set up to play on the break, of course, but they've not kept the ball long enough to set one up yet.

8.17pm BST

32 min: "There is only one Messi," writes Andy O'Shaughnessy of the 26th-minute magic. "Not possible to duplicate that." I think even attempting to duplicate that would involve the dislocation of both knees and a hip replacement.

8.16pm BST

31 min: Diego looks to make an immediate impact with a slide-rule pass in to Koke. Bartra shows fleet of foot to make the interception.

8.15pm BST

29 min: Diego replaces the stricken Diego Costa.

Updated at 8.39pm BST

8.14pm BST

28 min: And things just got a lot worse for Diego Simeone's side. Diego Costa twangs something as he attempts to hold off Busquets. It looks like the injury that threatened to keep him out completely has ended his night before the half hour mark.

8.13pm BST

27 min: Atletico are getting a little ragged. And they're not getting any respite.

8.12pm BST

26 min: Brilliance all round here. Messi, with his back to goal, somehow holds off Miranda's robust challenge then twists mindbendingly away from his marker before zipping the sweetest of passes in to Iniesta. The response: a quite superb block tackle from Godin as the midfielder's shot from close range headed goalwards.

8.10pm BST

25 min: Messi, surrounded by defenders like a movie hero fighting off zombies, finds Alves on the overlap. Alves inexplicably hammers his cross from the right edge of the area over the heads of his team-mates.

8.09pm BST

23 min: A first shot on goal for Barcelona. Xavi dinks in a cross, Neymar slightly miscues his header and it plops into Courtois's hands.

8.08pm BST

22 min: Atleti break and the ball drops to Diego Costa, who throws himself to the turf on halfway under Bartra's challenge. Brych, who has refereed unfussily so far, waves his free-kick claims away.

8.06pm BST

21 min: Miranda clears straight to Alba. Turan nabs the ball from the left-back. Alba nabs it right back. Barcelona are growing into this now.

8.04pm BST

19 min: Koke goes into Brych's book for a blatant trip on Neymar.

8.04pm BST

17 min: Another Pinto error helped in the creation of that chance for the visitors. His start has been wobbly to say the least. If Google Translate is accurate, the visiting fans should be chanting: "Arquero chunga! Arquero chunga!" whenever he goes near the ball for the rest of the evening.

8.01pm BST

16 min: Barcelona haven't been allowed to settle into their familiar pass-pass-pass routine yet. A loose touch from Diego Costa on the edge of the box sees a half-chance go begging.

8.00pm BST

15 min: … swung in and nodded clear by Sergio Busquets.

7.59pm BST

14 min: Bartra is 23 now, but barely has more Barcelona appearances than he does years on the clock. And he's got a corner to defend here …

7.57pm BST

12 min: So Marc Bartra replaces Gerard Piqué, who'll need a couple of trips to the osteopath by the look of it, at the back for Barcelona.

7.57pm BST

11 min: I've done Pique a disservice there. He's tried to run that bump off, but he's crumpled to the turf again and looks to be done for the evening.

Updated at 8.41pm BST

7.55pm BST

10 min: A Fabregas shot takes a deflection off Gabi and wins Barça the first corner of the game. It comes to nought.

7.54pm BST

9 min: Pique towers above Costa to win a header on halfway, but comes thumping back to the turf with a bang, landing right on his coccyx. He's absolutely fine. I mention it largely because "coccyx" is such a pleasant word.

7 min: … Messi, taking the set-piece from about five yards further out than he should be doing, tamely clips it into the wall.

7.51pm BST

6 min: Messi bumblebees his way through the centre of the Atleti defence and gets tripped right on the edge of the box. Dangerous free-kick …

7.50pm BST

5 min: What a chance! Oh my, what a chance! Pinto fluffs a clearance straight to Turan, who rolls the ball across the box for Villa. The striker has to stretch just a touch to wrap his foot around the ball, but he should've done much better than to steer the thing wide.

Updated at 8.43pm BST

7.49pm BST

4 min: Barcelona send the big men up from the back and whack the free-kick into the mixer. That may be a lie.

2 min: David Villa has an early pop at goal from the edge of the box, curling his effort just wide. The attack came from Atletico's midfielders successfully ferreting for the ball among their Barcelona counterparts.

7.46pm BST

1 min: Arda Turan holds the ball down the Atletico right as the visitors start off on the front foot.

7.46pm BST

Peep! Off we go then. Barcelona will look to keep the ball. Atléti will aim to pinch their pockets and break like lightning.

7.44pm BST

Anthem, handshakes, backslaps …

… and we're about to get under way.

7.43pm BST

Click-clack, click-clack …

The players are in the tunnel. Xavi chats to a couple of young mascots who are towering over him. One poor lad gets to be the referee's mascot. Short straw drawn there. "You were a mascot at Camp Nou? Who did you walk out with? Messi? Neymar? Diego Costa? Koke?" "Er, no. Felix Brych."

7.38pm BST

Prediction time

This will do for me:

Romario's chip for the opener is worth the admission price on that one. And Stoichkov's free-kick isn't bad either.

7.23pm BST

Stat!

Atletico Madrid captain Gabi has run 93,086m in the Champions League so far this season. Only three players (Nuri Sahin and Kevin Grosskreutz of Dortmund and Schalke's Roman Neustadter) have covered greater distances.

So no doubt about the big news: Diego Costa is fit and starts for the visitors. Or, at least, he starts.

Updated at 7.01pm BST

6.45pm BST

This used to be Atlético Madrid

"Papa, why do we support Atléti?"

Cue existential angst …

More recently, after a couple of Europa League finals …

Somehow football adverts from the Premier League don't quite have the same class …

6.00pm BST

Preamble

Evening all, and what a fine evening of football it should be. The European Cup quarter-finals. first v second in La Liga … but one of the teams involved isn't Real Madrid. Atléti are the story of the season in Europe for my money, how Barcelona evolve might just be the story of next season and beyond. But this isn't a battle between the past and the future – both these teams are very much in the now.

By way of a preamble I can do no better than to direct you to Sid Lowe's back catalogue:

Atlético aren't exactly a minnow – nine La Liga titles, 10 Copa del Rey wins, three European titles and a European Cup runners up spot isn't the honours list of a pub team – but the manner in which they have broken the duopoly in Spain has been a breath of fresh air in a league that was threatened to stagnate. Their Champions League campaign has been a bonus, a victorious campaign that you keep expecting to turn pyrrhic. It hasn't thus far.

Tonight is likely to be an affair as cagey as a Nicolas Cage trip to the zoo. The three meetings between the side thus far this season have ended 0-0, 0-0 and 1-1. The latter score might well suit the visitors from Madrid. Barcelona, you sense, would love to make a statement. The 4-1 win over Manchester City in the last round was comfortable, yet still somehow lacking. Tata Martino's Barça are yet to capture the imagination in the way Pep Guardiola's side did (and perhaps that is an impossible ask), but putting Atléti in their perceived place would be a start.